Billerica all business in opener with romp over Burlington High

BURLINGTON -- The motto of this year's Billerica Indians football team is "UFB" -- which stands for Unfinished Business.

Indians 35, Red Devils 0

After finishing 10-1 but falling to Reading in the Division 2 North final last year, the Indians have come back with a talented senior class and have earned high praise even before the season began as they vie for league, sectional and state titles.

It took a little while to get their engines fully going, but the Indians showed why they were a preseason top-5 team with a dominating 35-0 win over Burlington High School here Friday night.

Quarterback Zac Burns connected with Dean Brooks for three touchdown passes and running back Herby Pierre rushed 13 times for 78 yards and two more TD's. All of the scores took place in the second and third quarters.

The Indians tried an onside kick to begin the 2016 season, but the Red Devils recovered it cleanly and soon had first and goal at the Billerica 8-yard line. The Indians' defense held its ground and forced the Red Devils to settle for a 29-yard field goal attempt, which was missed.

Both sides traded empty possessions until Billerica got on the board with a 12-play, 75-yard drive punctuated by an 8-yard touchdown rush by Pierre.

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After the Red Devils went three-and-out on their next possession, the Indians offense went back to work with an 11-play, 61-yard drive that culminated in a 28-yard touchdown pass from Burns (9-of-14, 140 yards) to Brooks (5 catches, 119 yards). The dynamic duo would top that on their next drive with a 42-yard pitch-and-catch for a score, making the score 21-0 at halftime.

To make matters worse for the Red Devils, the Indians were to receive the second half kickoff, and a monster return set up the offense with first and goal at the six. After stalling on the first two plays, Burns found Brooks in the flat for their third and final touchdown pass of the night.

Burlington might have had an opening after a muffed punt gave them the ball back at midfield, but like the opening drive, the Billerica defense buckled down and got the ball back after all, leading to a 1-yard plunge by Pierre to close out the scoring.

While many pundits look forward to Billerica's matchup with perennial power Everett in three weeks, Sigsbury is keeping his team focused on the present.

"The only team we're worried about right now is Andover. We don't even know who we play after that," Sigsbury said in his best Bill Belichick imitation.

Derek Laundry, one of Billerica's captains and key players, also had 13 rushes for 78 yards.

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